 Masha'Allah today is a day of praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, today is a day of saying Allahu akbar Allahu akbar means that God is great, God is greater, God is the greatest, God is greater than anything or minds can possibly conceive, God is greater than the universe which he created out of nothing by his divine command. Allahu akbar Allahu akbar Allahu akbar Alhamdulillahi Tafira, for me personally this Eid, Eid al-Adha today is a major sign that this religion is true. Eid al-Adha is a major sign for me that this religion is Haqq, this is Deen al-Haqq, that the Qur'an is Haqq, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa la'ali wa sallam is Haqq and I'll tell you why. The dominant culture in the world right now is a culture that is held bent upon eliminating anything that has to do with Sayyidina Ibrahim alayhi sallam. They are very openly and very boldly declared ideological war on Sayyidina Ibrahim alayhi sallam, our master Abraham, he's be upon him. For them Ibrahim alayhi sallam epitomizes everything that they hate. He epitomizes tradition with a capital T which they despise. He epitomizes patriarchy. Abraham is our patriarch but patriarchy is tied to masculinity and masculinity for them is totally toxic. He epitomizes heteronormativity which they detest because they obey their base desires and he epitomizes fear of God and submission to God which they repudiate and reject and even mock. The dominant culture today is anti-Abrahamic to its core and every year things seem to get more and more intense, more deviant, more perverted and just strange. This is truly a strange new world. Just in the last five years things have really changed. It's hard to keep up with what's going on anymore. This is because it's based on hawa. It's based on feelings and desires and impulses. This is an age of feelings, the age of horrors. What happened to reason? What happened to revelation? What happened to discipline? What happened to self-control? It's a strange new world and yet in the face of such anti-Abrahamic culture Muslims from all over the world once a year on this day celebrate Ibrahim A.S. Once a year we remind ourselves of the crucial importance of staying connected specifically to Ibrahim A.S. and our responsibility to uphold his millah. No other religion has such a strong affinity with Abraham. No other religion celebrates a holiday that is so closely connected to Abraham, not even Christianity or Judaism, even though Abraham is mentioned in praise in the Bible. It's very interesting and so this lack of connection to Abraham peace be upon him is why these other religions are faltering badly in the face of the current culture and they're simply not equipped or no longer equipped to deal with these end game issues and hostilities and we are in the end game. My respected brothers and sisters make no mistake about it. You know how they say if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. Well if the kitchen is traditional religion and heat is this pernicious, convenient, dominant culture then right now in the world the heat is turned way up as 300 degrees and Jews, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are flying out of the kitchen at record numbers. Christianity and Judaism in particular are in major crisis right now. A big problem is that their leaders consistently fail to stand up for their principles. They have betrayed their own congregations. They were weak when they should have been strong. They were wishy washy when they should have been uncompromising. They made unwarranted concessions in the religion out of fear. They feared the people when they should have feared Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Wallahu ahakku an tafshahu. Allah has a greater right to be feared. The Bible says in both testaments, the old and the new, we need to remind our Christian and Jewish friends, both Isaiah and Matthew say, these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me teaching as doctrine the precepts of men. It tafadu ahbaruhum waruhbanuhum arbaada min dunillah. They took the religious leaders as the fine lords other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How? They obeyed the creation in disobedience to the Creator. You see these other religions. These are not the millah of Ibrahim aleyhi salam. They're not. We, the ummah of the best of creation, the ummah of the final prophet and messenger, the ummah of our master Muhammad sallallahu aleyhi wa aleyhi We are the millah of Ibrahim aleyhi salam. We are literally the last best hope of humanity, the last bus home, the last line of defense, and many people are starting to realize this. This is why multitudes of people in the West right now are becoming Muslim. When your common sense, your parental rights, your religious tradition, your very civilization is constantly being undermined at work, at school, at church, and in the media. You will either give up out of despair, out of disillusionment, or you will seek to preserve your worldview. And so many people are discovering Islam right now as being the only real alternative of self-preservation. Alhamdulillah. Recently we've seen people who are, who were vitriolic, anti-Muslim, polemicists a few years ago, people who hated Islam, people who hated Allah and his messenger. We see them convert to Islam and openly express their love for Allah and his messenger. Subhanallah. According to the World Health Organization, there is more mental illness in the Anglo sphere, in the English-speaking world, and in all other places, despite the increased wealth and technology. Why? Because wealth and technology are not the be-all, end-all. Replacing Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala with tahoods, with false gods only leads to misery. When the fear of Allah, when prophetic virtue cultivation, when disciplining the lower self is replaced with atheism, and absolute autonomy, and unbridled hedonism, this only leads to misery. Western society is seriously breaking down right now, and people have started looking to us for answers. Have you been to San Francisco lately? Subhanallah. It's an absolute dystopia, hopeless everywhere. Human waste, needles, garbage covering the streets. 30 to 35 percent of office buildings abandon you deluding and crying. There are signs everywhere, cautioning drivers about criminals who will smash their car windows and steal your property. And yet hundreds and hundreds, if you know what flags, post it everywhere. This is their culture now. This is their priority now. San Francisco was never invaded by a foreign army. It was never colonized. It was never bombed by invading armies. It's one of the wealthiest and most technologically advanced cities in the world. What happened? Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says, He has chosen you and imposed no difficulties upon you in the religion. It is the Mila of your father Abraham. It is the creed, the theology, the tradition of Ibrahim, alaihi salam. He called you Muslims in the past and in this scripture so that the messenger may be a witness over you and so that you, you might be witnesses over humanity. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says, Abraham was an Ummah. One of the needies of Ummah is Imam, leader. We are his Mila. We are supposed to be leaders of humanity, not followers, not sheep, but shepherds. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala chose us for this. He chose the Bani Israel before us but they fell short. So now this is upon us and we accept this honor with humility. This is now upon us as both a source of pride and joy but it's also a serious responsibility. The word responsibility comes from the Latin meaning ability to respond. If you who believe respond to Allah and his messenger when they call you to that which gives you life, respond to that which gives you life, what is that? What are we responding to that gives us life? Imam al-Qurtubi, he said, the hudud of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, the parameters determined by Allah, the commandments and prohibitions given to us by Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, the Qur'an and sunnah of our master Muhammad sallallahu alayhi sallam, that which leads to everlasting life in the hereafter. And staying within these hudud is not difficult. This is not a difficult religion. I want to emphasize this point primarily for our young people here, practically speaking this is not a difficult religion. Allah wants ease for you, not difficulty. We did not reveal this Qur'an to make you miserable. I teach a class at the college called comparative religion, comparative theology and when I say the college you should know what I'm referring to. They tune a college, the first person college in the West, a lighthouse in the bleak ocean of modern academia. And I'll tell you this, if you gave me two minutes to explain the essential theology and morality of a given religion, the only religion that could be adequately explained in two minutes or less is Islam. Why? Not because this is a religion for unsophisticated people, quite the contrary. Study history, this religion produced some of the greatest geniuses who ever lived, theologians, philosophers, poets, scientists, physicians, historians, lawyers, political scientists, mathematicians, et cetera, et cetera, knowledge is at the centrality of this religion. It's because the guidance that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us is clear, it's coherent, it's reasonable, it's logical, it is in alignment with our nature, our common sense. This is not a difficult religion. Our essential and non-negotiable theological and moral commitments are clear. So be very cautious about anyone who attempts to muddy the waters. Our essentials are clear. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam warn us about people who yaatunakum minal ahadith bima laa bima laam tasma'u anthum wa laa baakum. People who come to you with statements that neither you nor your forefathers have ever heard these radical hermeneutes. We know from the plain and obvious meanings of our sacred text tradition that Allah is one, that He has no partners, that there's nothing like Him. We know from the plain and obvious meanings of our sacred text tradition that Jesus peace be upon Him is a prophet, not God, not the Son of God. We know from the plain and obvious meanings of our sacred text tradition that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enjoyed upon His prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage that He set the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam as a moral exemplar and a mercy to all the worlds. We know from the plain and obvious meanings of our sacred text tradition what the sin of the people of Lot was, the qawm loot. We know it's plain and obvious. We don't need a PHD seminar to decipher what the Quran is saying here. We know from the plain and obvious meanings of our sacred text tradition that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created male and female. It's binary and that men and women are different. Well, they said that they're called untha yet men and women complement each other. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam said a man's wife is shakru dinihi is half his religion. It's yin and yang. It's complementary, non antagonistic. This is what revelation and reason can demonstrate. We don't need a $4,000 three unit university course on intersectional feminism and gender studies to take our money and then lie to us about men and women. We know from the plain and obvious meanings of our sacred text tradition that fornication, alcohol consumption, and the killing of children is forbidden and harmful to society. And reason can demonstrate this. We have clear guidance. We have a clarifying book. We have who is who is a messenger from God who recites pure scriptures. And we also know from our guidance from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that Allah is forgiving and merciful and that he's ready to accept our Toba and he loves to accept Toba. Maybe you haven't been praying for a while. Maybe you got caught up in all of this woke nonsense and even said things that go against Allah and his messenger. Maybe you secretly left the millah, make Toba and come back as long as you're alive. It isn't too late. You're still alive. Come back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah is the Tawa, the one who is constantly accepting our repentance. Come back and have hope in Allah that he will enable you to seal your speech with la ilaha illa Allah. Your end matters more than your beginning or middle. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the hadith, O son of Adam, as long as you call upon me and have hope in me, I will forgive you despite whatever may have occurred from you. And I do not mind. This is Allah. What did my teacher say that one of these Muslim celebrity athletes approached the sheikh and we know that shuhra is a tribulation. Fame is a tribulation. The ulema do not wish to be famous. love of fame is one of the major diseases of the heart. This is a disease of the heart that very learned people struggle with, let alone teenagers on social media, many of who harm themselves by doing these humiliating TikTok challenges just to become famous. And that stuff stays on the internet for decades and decades. So this famous Muslim athlete, he said to the sheikh, I keep falling into this one sin. I make toba, but I keep falling back into this sin. Then I make toba and the cycle continues on and on. What do I do? The sheikh looked at him and said, continue, continue, continue to make toba with sincerity. And inshallah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give me tawfiq to eventually leave this sin. Oh my servants who have transgressed against their own souls, never despair of the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah forgives all sins. He's forgiving and merciful. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said once a man was walking in the street and he found a thorny branch of a tree on the street and he removed it. Allah thanked him for that and forgave his sins. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves to forgive. He's looking to forgive. You might deem some act insignificant, but it is weighty with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's looking at intention. He's looking at sincerity. You don't have to go from a non-practicing Muslim to sheikh al-islam overnight. Start with establishing the prayer five times a day and do these little things with good intentions. Smile at people. There was a guy who committed suicide. He tried to commit suicide. He jumped off a golden gate bridge. He said he survived. He said he was on the bus. He said if just one person looked at me and smiled at me, I wouldn't have gone through with it. If one person looked at me and smiled at me, if one person looked at me and said, hey, how are you doing? I wouldn't have done with it. Smile at people. Open doors for people. Be kind to animals. When you go to a restaurant, clean up after yourself. Make it a little easier for the worker there who's barely making enough money to feed his family. These are things that Allah values. There is a saying attributed to Isa al-Islam. He said which of you, if you had 100 sheep and lost one of them, would it leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost until he found it? And when you find it, you carry it on your shoulders rejoicing. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam made the same point, but more effectively, more vividly, more dramatically, he said sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, verily Allah is more pleased with the repentance of his slave than a man who lost his camel in a waterless desert which was carrying his provisions of food and drink. He, having lost all hope, lies down in the shade, presumably to die. Then all of a sudden, he finds the camel standing before him. He takes hold of its reins and then out of boundless joy, he blurts out, Allahumma anta abdi wa ana rabbuk. Oh Allah, you are my slave and I am your Lord. The Prophet said, aftu'a bimin shiddatil farah. He committed a mistake with his tongue out of extreme joy. Allah is more pleased with his servant's tauba than that man is at that moment. You see, the worst thing you can do is to disconnect yourself from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or to justify your sin to yourself in defiance of Allah. The state of youth, the state of being young can lead to a state to a type of delusion, gurur. Young people often think that they're indestructible. But I promise you one day, a day that will come sooner than you think, you will notice your body starting to break down, gray in your hair, wrinkles on your face, your memory starting to slip if you even get that far. Just recently, we had two young Muslim brothers in their 20s return to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah forgive them and have mercy upon them and give patience to their parents and siblings. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give them the highest ranks. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give them the company of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam. Things like this happen. They happen all the time. This is the nature of the dunya. It happened to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam on multiple occasions. And he was the best of creation. He's a beloved of Allah. When his son Ibrahim died, radiallahu anhu, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam was weeping. This is human nature. Abdurrahman ibn Awf, radiallahu anhu, he said, wa anta ya Rasulullah, you are crying a messenger of God. Oh son of Awf, he said, this is mercy. Indeed the eye weeps and the heart feels grief. But we don't say except what pleases our Lord. So know the nature of the dunya. These are tests. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, do you think you're just going to enter paradise without being tested? So let's make a commitment right now that we're going to live theocentric lives, lives centered around God. As long as you are following Allah and his messenger, you not allow yourself to be agitated by those who are steeped in sin because I'll tell you this. And you know this, this whole idea of living a feel-centric life, a life centered around God, a life of taqwa, this whole idea has become an object of mockery in our modern culture. The idea of believing in the divine law giver, a being greater than ourselves, is the object of mockery in our modern world. So how are we going to respond? What's our isti-jabba? Are we going to cower and shame and water down the religion because of how human beings might perceive us? Or are we going to put Allah and his messenger first? What do we have to use a boxing analogy? Are we going to respond to the bell of the final round, make isti-jabba and keep striving? Or are we going to throw in the towel, give up and lose hope? Or are we going to try to change the rules of the game in the final round? Whatever choice we make, we should know that Allah SWT does not need any of us. While you are self-sufficient, whereas you, human beings, are impoverished. And if you turn away, He will replace you with another people and they will not be like you. This is the sunnah of Allah in His creation. Please Allah and humanity will follow. If we transgress the hudud of Allah in order to please humanity, we will compromise. If we compromise our non-negotiable theological and moral commitments, or if we lie to ourselves and radically reinterpret these non-negotiables that are ma'lumina din bi burura, then how can we expect tawfiq from Allah SWT? Please Allah and human beings will follow. And if human beings don't follow, then hasbun Allah. Allah suffices us. We don't say anything except that please is our Lord. You don't have to march in a rally. You don't have to support some politician. You don't have to affirm someone's self-delusion. You don't have to scream and stomp your feet at some protest. You don't have to declare yourself an ally to some deviant social movement. You don't have to play their language games. You don't have to do any of these things. Don't let the pressure get to you. Allah SWT will give you a way out, an exit strategy. So what do we have to do? Finishing the ayah. Establish the prayer and give charity and cling to Allah SWT. He is your master. What an excellent master and what an excellent helper. This is the millah of Ibrahim AS. The last bastion of hope. How many times we find in the Quran Allah SWT commanding us to adhere to the millah of Ibrahim AS. How many times? Why is that? Why such emphasis? Because this is true guidance. This is what we need to survive in these latter days. The Quran is a trans-historical text. It's good for all time. It stays relevant. Allah knew that attacks upon the millah Ibrahimiyah would intensify as we move closer to the Sa'a. He was not from the idolaters. Who turns away from the creed of Abraham? Except he makes a fool out of himself. Amazing. Do we not see this today? Do we not see this today? Listen to the speech of these post-modern people who reject traditional Abrahamic theology and morality, who reject God and revelation and prophecy and time-tested tradition. Just listen to their words. Contradictions, logical fallacies, incoherence, emotional incontinence, and just mind-boggling A'jeeb and gharib foolishness, the kind of foolishness where you're left scratching your head. You're wondering, is this person serious right now? Is he serious? Look at their appearances. Look at their beauty, their bodies. What kind of foolishness? What happened to humanity? What happened to human dignity? Look at the lifestyles that they advocate. Unhealthy, pathogenic, shameless, disordered. Alhamdulillah, we are Muslim. We have clear guidance. They make absolute fools out of themselves and they call us fools. وإذا قيل لهم لا تُصِدُوا في الأرض قولوا إنما نحن مسلِهون And when it is said to them, do not spread corruption in the land. They say, we're just performers. Indeed, it is they who are corruptors, but they fail to perceive. وإذا قيل لهم آمنوا كما آمن الناس قالوا أنوا منوا كما آمن السفحة And when they are told, believe as others believe, they say, will we believe as the fools believe? Indeed, it is they who are fools, but they don't know. And when they meet the believers, when they meet the Muslims, they say, we believe. You know, we're allies. We're on the same team. Coexistence, tolerance, kindness. Did Ibrahim, alaihi salam, ally himself to deviance? Did Lut, alaihi salam, what about the wife of Lut? These stories are here for a reason. But when they're alone, but they're evil associates, they say, we are definitely with you. We were just mocking with those believers. We're just using them to get power, status, sympathy, special privileges. We don't really care about them. Allah will be with them. Allah will throw their mockery back at them, leaving them to continue wandering blindly in their defiance. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala says about Ibrahim, alaihi salam, ila jaa arapahu bi qalb in salim, that Ibrahim, alaihi salam, came to his Lord with a sound heart. This is the spiritual heart, the spiritual qalb, which is the seed of emotion and intelligence. In other words, the mind, Ibrahim, alaihi salam, approaches Lord with a sound mind. The stories in the Quran of Ibrahim, alaihi salam are not simply there for entertainment. They have deeply profound significance. They're intended to build our minds, to make us formidable intellectual warriors, like Ibrahim, alaihi salam. I'm out of time. He was saffr, al-ladi, walakum fad-saqf, ilahu wa ta' pureb, ilallah, yata wa thuma ai-na. Alhamdulillahi rabbi al-dh'aley. Bismillah. Wa salam ala Rasuli allah, wa aleh, wa la saadaatina wa ihmatina, abibakara man-atman, wa alaihi. Wa ranzi, Allah, wa ta'ala, as-hadi, Rasuli, Allah, the substitution of a ram for Ibrahim's son, ranzi, Allah, wa alaihi salam, serves as the basis for the ritual of the slaughtering, of the animal, the Urqiyyah, the Purvani. It's required as a final rite of the Hajj. So we have to do this as well, or at least have someone do this on our behalf. Also it is wajib in the Hanafi school to continue the Takbirat at least once after every Fard Salat, okay? Up to and including Salat al-Asr on the 13th of Durk Hijjah. So that's Saturday, I believe, July 1st. Yuhulullah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, in the Book of Aziz. Ba'ala n'kuluh, Haudhubillah, min ash-shaytahu rajeem, ismina ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. Inna Allah wa mad-da'a, ikadduhi sadhu na'ala nabit. Ya ayyumadabina, amannu saddu a'alihi wa saddim wa taslima. Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa al-Ali Sayyidina Muhammadin. Kaman salli ta'ala Sayyidina Ibrahim, wa al-Ali Sayyidina Ibrahim, inna khafid al-Majid. Allahumma bari ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa al-Ali Sayyidina Muhammadin. Kaman salli ta'ala Sayyidina Ibrahim, wa al-Ali Sayyidina Ibrahim, inna khafid al-Majid. Nasal wal-Ali Al-Ajim Al-Thaf. Nasal fil-Ali Nasal Al-Jannah wa na'udabika minal nar Nasal wal-Ali Al-Ajim Al-Thaf. Nasal fil-Ali Nasal Al-Jannah wa na'udabika minal nar. Allahumma inna khafid al-Thaf wa Al-Afoo. Wa A'bu al-Nayyad Karim. Wa Sad Allah Sayyidina Muhammadin wa al-Ali Al-Husam Al-Husam. And all praise be to Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.